A Damsel in Distress
by DJShanaynay
Summary: An AU I wrote in literally 3 days based off of a really stupid idea I had. Arthuria is a knight off to save a damsel in distress from a far off land, who has been trapped up in a tall tower. But in a land like Babylonia, will anything go as planned for the King of Knights?


**A/N: This is a weird AU where Gil and Saber's era are at the same time. Think of this as a sort of medieval fairy tale AU I guess.**

With the sun close to setting against the desert sand, and currently placed in such a way where the rays directly hit the knight's eyes, Arthuria lifted a leather-gloved hand to block the globe of light so she could properly see the tower in front of her.

To say the building was an eyesore was an understatement. More fond of grey stonework and the architectural designs of her homeland, the esteemed knight didn't find much awe in the arrangement of sandstone blocks that seemed to have gold flakes mixed in that reflected the sun's light annoyingly. It was also possibly the weirdest form of tower she had ever seen: it wasn't even shaped like one! The towers the knight-king were used to were circle based pillars that stood on their own. This tower looked more like a palace built into the wall of a desert mountain than anything. This atrocity of a building had two square based pillars built into the side of the hill, connected by a smaller square pillar in between them. It also had a stairway effect, as the walls of the pillars receded into the mountain every fifty feet or so. And each step except for the bottom had identical, rectangular shaped windows, and Arthuria could not see anything beyond them but the occasional glimpse of red fabric, presumably the curtains for this sick excuse of a tower.

Her train of contemptuous thoughts about the building were interrupted by the impatient snort of her steed, tossing its grey head as its hoof pawed at the sand beneath it. Arthuria let out a sigh, before dismounting her horse, and going to the side of its head to give its muzzle a calming pat. Deciding it was high-time for the mare to eat something, she went to the satchel at her side to take out an apple she had prepacked for the trip, and lifted it to her steed's mouth for her to eat. The mare took it gratefully, munching away as its prior annoyance vanished like a mirage in the sand. Now satisfied with her horse's condition, Arthuria looked back up at the tower.

The mission was simple, and quite common to the era: rescue a damsel in distress. However, when it came to details, missions such as this one could vary wildly. Sometimes the maiden could have been kidnapped by rogues, while other times the maiden could have been in a bit of financial trouble and had arranged a terrible deal with a dark wizard. Most of the damsels Arthuria had rescued so far had smaller issues, ones that more commonly did not have the maiden suddenly becoming enamoured with the knight. Which was always preferable: Arthuria was interested in feeding and helping the poor souls of her country in any way she could, but was definitely not interested in marrying any of them. It would not be fair to the girls: she was viewed in her homeland as a man, and if they were to find out she were a woman, they would be heavily disappointed. It was best to let the maidens be and allow them to have their wishful dreams.

However, this mission varied from even those missions. Back in her home of Camelot, the Knights of the Round Table had a received a message by delivery of a peculiar foreign bird, whose feathers were a very noticeable and admirable green. Thinking of the delivery, Arthuria reached into the satchel and grabbed the message in question, bringing the piece of parchment up to her face and rereading the contents:

" _Dearest King of Camelot, Arthur Pendragon,_

 _I write to you with the most urgent of matters, and I pray that you will look into them once explained. Though she may not be from your country, there is a maiden in dire distress to the far east. She has been locked away in isolation at the top of a tall and magnificent tower, and cannot seem to be able to leave no matter how many attempts are made. I humbly beg that his most royal Highness come to Babylonia and save this woman. I fear it is only someone of your calibre and your strength who will be able to save her._

 _The location and directions to the tower are enclosed on the back of this parchment. Once again, I humbly beg of you that you come to this maiden's assistance. You may be our only hope."_

The letter had no signature, and no way to tell if the writer had been telling the truth. However, Arthuria knew that she could not deny such a request. No matter the country, if she denied a poor soul the help that they needed, then she would never be able to be the kind of King that she wanted to be: a fair and just ruler who truly cared about not only her kingdom's people, but all of God's precious children.

Arthuria scrolled the piece of parchment back up into a roll, and placed it back in her satchel. Once again, she looked up at the tower. It would not be a fast climb to the top, but it would not necessarily be a difficult one either. The structure, as unpleasant looking as it was, had bricks that looked quite sturdy, so there was little to no fear of the bricks crumbling under her feet and causing her to fall to her doom. Arthuria also thought of climbing the mountain, but that seemed far more dangerous than climbing a man-made structure, as well the fact that once she got to the top, she would have to repel down from the mountain's peak to the top of the tower, which allowed much more room for error than if she simply climbed the tower walls.

Making her decision, the King of Camelot took the reigns of her horse, and lead her to the side of the tower. She found a root, though shrivelled and dying, sticking out from the side of the mountain right beside the tower, and tied the reigns there so she would not have to fear her steed running away from her. Not that she thought the horse would- ever since training, the mare had been incredibly loyal to her master- but if something were to spook the horse, thoughts of loyalty would surely retreat to the crevices of the beast's brain in order to escape danger.

Arthuria then walked over to the side of the tower, and dug back into the satchel at her side, making sure she had everything she needed. For one, she had a thickly braided rope that was wound up tightly so it could fit inside her pack, but when unfolded it would stretch to a length of about one hundred feet. Certainly enough to be able to get the maiden down from the tower should they need to have to repel down the side of each step. Secondly, a small but sharp dagger, that would be helpful should the need arise to have to fight. Bringing her trusted sword Excalibur up a tall tower was simply unrealistic given its weight, and that did not even include the sword's sheath, Avalon. Then finally, there was the letter. She found in her adventures that keeping the letters of enquiry could prove helpful, for sometimes the maiden did not know that a message of distress had been sent out for her. Showing them the letters tended to calm them down, along with making Arthuria significantly more trustworthy.

Looking back up at the gaudy tower, the knight quickly latched up her satchel, and tightened her leather gloves around her hands. The boots that she wore were full of sand, so she hoped it would not hinder her climb too badly. Thankfully the rest of her outfit would not have much risk of catching onto anything, as she only wore a pair of dark brown trousers, as well as a short blue tunic with a leather belt around it. Her blonde hair was already tied up into a ponytail, which was at one point well kept but thanks to the sweat the hot desert sun had caused throughout her day of travelling, it was askew and quite messy. Not that it mattered as long as it stayed out of her face.

With all things considered, and a plan for climbing thought out, Arthuria lifted her foot to lodge into one of the crevices of the sandstone bricks, and lifted herself upwards so her hand could grab onto the side. Then she lifted her other foot, lodging it further up and testing how firm her grip was, and then giving herself a boost so her free hand could grab even higher. She repeated this pattern again and again, beginning to climb the tower.

She had a plan in mind: The tower consisted of three steps, if relating it to a kind of steep staircase. The side of the first step did not have windows, or doors, which was quite peculiar. However, the side of the second step did. If Arthuria could enter through there and find an actual stairwell on the inside, she may not even need to make the rest of the perilous climb. It would save quite a bit of energy, as well as give her better shelter for when the sun finally set.

For a half hour it felt like she had climbed, and when looking at the angle of the sun, she found that was an accurate assumption. She lifted her head up again to look to see how high she had gotten, and if she climbed once or twice more, she would reach the top of the first step. And so, with new-found determination despite her aching muscles, she climbed the last few feet before grabbing onto the side of the ledge, and pulling herself up onto it. Breathing heavily, she sat down on the top of the first step of the tower, letting her legs hang off the side. She balanced her hands on the smooth sandstone behind her, leaning back and stretching her neck backwards before letting out a relieved sigh. Sweat trickled down her back, and she had no doubt that the climb so far plus the days of travelling since she had last had a bath made her smell absolutely putrid. She hoped the maiden wouldn't be delicate enough to mind and appreciate her efforts nonetheless.

After a few minutes of rest, Arthuria finally put strength back into her legs and lifted them up onto the ledge, and stood up to face the rest of the tower. The side of the second step receded maybe twenty feet behind the side of the first, and it seemed as though the tops of each steps were meant to be sorts of perilous balconies. After all, the side of the step not only had its bland rectangular windows, but also a large rectangular archway with details surrounding its sides. Annoyingly, the designs around it were made of gold flakes, but that was not incredibly surprising judging by the rest of the tower's materials.

Straightening out her clothes, Arthuria walked towards the archway, and once reaching it, peered her head in to look inside. At the sides of the inside of the archway, she found red silk curtains that looked quite expensive hanging from the ceiling, as well as more pairs around every available window. The floors were made of much smoother sandstone than the walls were, smooth enough that the rays of the sunset reflected prettily off the top of it. And the entire place smelled of fine fruits and incense.

Very luxurious for a maiden's prison.

However, blinded by the surprising magnificence of the interior, Arthuria stepped a foot inside of the tower, and immediately froze at the sound of a loud, ungodly snore. Her emerald eyes widening at the sound, they quickly moved to the origin of the noise, and finally saw what this room had been holding inside of it.

Like out of an old children's tale, much akin to the ones her father used to read to her, there laid a large beast in the centre of an enormous pit of pillows, furs, and blankets, baring unnaturally-coloured green fur! It was the size of two-no, three horses with possibly even more room to spare! It was a beast very much like a large dog, though its snout was sharper than what an average hound's would be. Its head, which was about as large as a boulder, rested on its paws underneath it, while the rest of its body was curled around itself. Another snore sent chills down Arthuria's spine, and she felt as if she had just experienced a very tiny earthquake in the room.

Arthuria desperately looked for a way out. She could always step back outside, but she feared that may not work now that she had stepped inside. She did not think she had the strength to climb another step to get to the top. Her eyes skimmed over the room quickly, trying to find a door or a staircase in order to escape this monster!

Then she found a solution that gave her mixed emotions: in the shadows at the back of the room, Arthuria could make out a pair of staircases, their bottoms at the centre of the back wall and then stretching up and beyond the sides of the room. However, despite this discovery, that meant that Arthuria would have to sneak past this ungodly creature, in order to avoid she fighting the beast with nothing but rope and a tiny dagger.

Her heart was beating frantically inside of her chest, as it had been since she first laid her eyes on this green-haired beast, before Arthuria finally found the courage to close her eyes. She took a soft breath, relaxing herself and forcing herself to calm. _"Ti's only a sleeping beast,"_ she thought to herself, _"Do not wake it and everything should go smoothly. Once up to the top of this tower, you can simply repel down the side, not having to dare going past it again."_ Her heartbeat finally slowed down to a normal pace after a bit of careful breathing, and once again she opened her eyes. However, she kept her gaze past the beast, and targeted on the staircases at the back of the room.

Carefully and quietly, she took another step into the room. Her eyes couldn't help but flicker to the sleeping beast, checking for a reaction or a sign of the beast waking. But the creature kept its eyes closed, and only let out another, regularly paced snore. Ignoring the chills the sound gave her, Arthuria took another soft-footed step forward. Then she took another. And another. Soon enough she found herself against the wall adjacent to the entrance of the balcony, and stayed in the shadows in order to keep as far away from the monster as possible.

After what felt like an eternity of careful stepping and cautious timing, for she made sure she would only step forward during the exhale of a snore in order to disguise any sound that would come from her boots, she finally reached the right-most stairwell. And in an attempt not to get overly comfortable or cocky from succeeding in sneaking past the beast, she continued her footing up the steps in the same fashion she had on the floor, timing her treading with the pace of the beast's loud and rumbling snoring.

Once Arthuria reached the top of the steps, she couldn't help but let out a deep sigh of relief. Nothing in the letter had said anything about the maiden's capture being made by a terrible and gigantic beast. If the letter had mentioned that, she would have bothered to carry Excalibur up the tower's walls just in case she had been forced to fight it. There was no way on God's green earth that she would have been able to fight off such an animal with a small dagger, no matter how sharp it may be.

Settling her heart once more, Arthuria looked around her new surroundings. She was in a smaller room, and found nothing but a lit torch on the wall in front of her, as well as another staircase leading up further into the mountain. With a faster pace in her steps, as there was no way the beast could wake up and fit itself up the staircase below, she made her way up the new set of stairs leading up to what she hoped was the third floor and final step of the tower.

Once at the top of the second and final set of stairs, Arthuria found herself at the right-most end of a long hallway. When she realized she was at one of the ends, she turned to look down to the opposite end, and saw that there was another staircase heading back down, probably to the secondary part of the left-most stairs from the beast's lair. And when faced towards the other end of the hallway, she found that all along the wall to her left, there were more of the rectangular windows with red silk curtains, as well as another archway identical to the last leading out to another balcony. She was most definitely on the third and final floor now.

However, on the side opposite to the archway and the staircases, she found well-made and beautiful tapestries hung up against it, with torches placed in between each one. And directly across from the archway and dead centre in the middle of the wall was a large pair of doors, which to Arthuria's surprise was made entirely of gold, and had what looked to be ivory engraved into its panels to create beautiful patterns and shapes. The knobs of the doors were also made of ivory, though the centre of the handles were made of gold one again.

Arthuria decided that this prison was far too luxurious for her tastes.

But seeing as how there was nowhere else to go other than through this extravagant door, Arthuria could only assume that this was the final room that the maiden was being held in. Not wasting any time, the King of Knights made her way over to the door, taking hold of one of the handles and twisting it, before pushing the door forward into the room.

The room was darker than the others. Perhaps it was because it seemed to lack windows, but even with that in mind, it was still irregularly dark. It was not as if there were no sources of light, as there were wax candles lit all over the room, lightening up much of the space. There was even several floor torches near the centre of the room, and Arthuria counted four in total. And if someone were to draw lines between each of the floor torches, they would create a square shape that was perfectly centred around the room's epicentre. And what was in that epicentre was a large square bed whose frame was made entirely of gold. The bed was larger than what Arthuria thought was necessary for even a the titan downstairs, and had tall pillars on each corner that held up a canopy of red silk. And underneath that canopy was an arrangement of pillows, blankets, and various furs.

Arthuria did not pay much more attention to the rest of the room, though when her eyes had skimmed it over she knew there was some sort of sitting area on the right hand wall, and on the left hand wall there were two small archways leading into rooms beyond the magnificent bedroom. What caught the major portion of Arthuria's gaze was the shifting figure underneath the blankets on the bed, completely hidden by the furs and pillows.

Closing the door behind her, but not enough so that a sliver of light still crept into the room, Arthuria quietly made her way over to the bed, feeling grateful that there was actually someone there. After days and days of travelling and wondering whether or not the trip would even be worth it, she was finally nearing this adventure's end. She smiled slightly, her eyes warming at the thought of the maiden's happiness when she awoke, finding that she was being saved from such a terrible situation.

She had finally made her way over to the bed, making sure not to step on or disturb the empty golden plates and goblets that scattered the floor near the maiden's bedside, and took a soft breath. The maiden was completely wrapped up in the blankets, so much so that Arthuria could not even tell what kind of hair colour the girl had. It was like she had created a cocoon to protect herself from the awful reality of what lay downstairs, preventing her much needed escape. What a poor girl indeed.

With a soft smile and warm emerald eyes, Arthuria reached forward to place a hand on what she presumed was the maiden's shoulder.

"Maiden?" she spoke quietly, though loud enough to wake the girl up without startling too much. "Please, it's time to wake up. We don't have much time and we must leave her quickly. Come now, please wake up."

The figure underneath the blankets shifted, and from what Arthuria could make out, she seemed to stretch out with a soft yawn, waking up. Arthuria's smile widened, and she removed her hand as she saw the figure move some more, and she watched as she saw a hand move the blankets aside, revealing what was underneath.

Arthuria's smile fell when she did not see a maiden come out from underneath the blankets.

What Arthuria saw was a young and fit man, with golden-blonde locks that stuck out every-which way, and with no clothes on whatsoever. The man sat up, letting out a grumble as he lifted a hand to his ruffled hair, which had fallen over his eyes. He ran his fingers through his bangs, shifting them to lay backwards on his head so he could see who had disturbed him. And when he opened his eyes, Arthuria's found her emerald eyes met with a piercing, bloody red that had slitted pupils like that of a snake.

However, the man's eyes were dazed and tired, nearly half shut, and Arthuria felt frozen as she watched those red orbs peer over her form standing by the bed.

"Woman," he grumbled tiredly, his voice rough and dry from lack of hydration, and he turned himself more towards her. "You dare wake the King as he sleeps? How incompetent of you."

Arthuria's mouth fell open, her eyebrows furrowed in growing anger. She didn't even have time to think of where the maiden she was sent here for could be when his eyes looked over hers again. The man looked like a mildly annoyed cat, considering his next move.

"However," he started, his eyes quickly skimming over her body again, before going back up to meet hers once more. "Even with such insolence, I suppose you will do. Use this as your chance for apology, woman."

In a swift movement, surprising from a man so seemingly bedridden and exhausted, the King suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Arthuria by the wrist, and with a shocking amount of strength he pulled her down towards him. Arthuria let out a shout as she landed on the bed's soft furs and blankets, though the comfort of the bed was ruined by the roughness that the man pulled her into his body. With one of his hands still tightly gripping her wrist as if he were her shackles, the King brought his other hand to grab the back of her neck along with her scalp, bringing her head over to his.

When the King's dry lips crushed into hers, Arthuria stiffened up and froze in place. She watched with wide eyes as the King closed his in order to enjoy the moment, feeling as though she had just been stabbed and was enduring the shock of it. And just as Arthuria felt the tongue of the stranger try to slip between her rigged and tightly closed lips, she snapped out of her state of shock. She quickly used her free hand to grab the King's shoulder and push him away from her, managing to catch him off guard and successfully remove his lips from hers. What had she thought he was going to do? Lie there and allow him to assault her as if she were nothing but a doll?! Hoping the moment of surprise would last a bit longer, she quickly reached into her satchel, her fingers desperately searching for the dagger within.

However, the surprise did not last as long as she had hoped. With his grip still painfully tight on her wrist, she heard a growl come from the man beside her and saw his second hand grab her searching arm. They struggled for a moment before the King successfully pulled her hand out of her bag, and just as Arthuria thought she felt the metal of her most needed weapon, it had slipped from her fingers and was left inside her pack. With bare muscles flexing, the King pushed Arthuria further into the bed and put himself on top of her to hold her down, as well as locking down her wrists beside her head against the bed. Arthuria still kicked and squirmed, and when she looked up at her attacker, she saw his red eyes were no longer blurry, but fully awake and full of a furious fire.

"You dare try to deny your King the right to his subjects, woman? Nevertheless after you have already been an insolent little girl?! I am your King! Be lucky you are not dead where you lay!" he snarled, and it may have been a trick of the minimum amount of light inside the room, but Arthuria could have sworn that his slitted pupils had shrunken is size as he yelled.

Arthuria grit her teeth, and her eyes became even more furious than they were before when he tried to lean in again and she bashed her forehead against his. She winced from the pain, but could not help but feel a little accomplished when he hissed from his new injury, bringing his head back away from hers. She took this chance to finally speak.

"You are **not** my King!" she seethed, her tone biting at the King in between the deep breaths that she took from both adrenaline and anger. "And even if you were, no King has a right to assault his subjects!"

"Do not speak to me as if you are my equal, mongrel" the King's eyes narrowed as he scowled down at her, and the grip on her wrists tightened. "And do not speak of the obvious as if I were not to know it. Your foreignness could be spotted by a mere child with your complexion and disgusting mannerisms."

Red orbs glared down at Arthuria's body, looking it over thoroughly and Arthuria felt as though she were naked under his scrutinizing gaze.

"You are from the west," he observed, before looking back into her eyes with a deep frown. He seemed to have calmed a bit, but not by much. "And it is obvious that you are not some trained whore, otherwise you would already be mounting me. What is your business here? And make it quick, before I find myself uninterested in what you have to say."

Arthuria's mouth twitched even further downwards, nearly shaking underneath him in pure anger. Her emerald eyes glared up into the King's red, swallowing whatever amount of fear was still in her heart and igniting the dragon's blood in her veins.

"I am here to save a maiden up in this tower," she stated sharply. "And my guess is that you and that beast downstairs are her captor, is that right?!"

The room was suddenly dead silent, despite the heavy breathing that came from Arthuria's chest. The King peered down at her, his narrowed eyes opening a bit and his gaze looking deeply into her eyes, as if trying to tell if she was trying to deceive him. The silence was incredibly uncomfortable, and bit into Arthuria like a sharp needle.

Arthuria was not sure whether or not she would have preferred that the silence stayed once the fit of laughter had started. The King had started off with a soft chuckle, before eventually throwing back his head and beginning to let out a boisterous laugh, as if Arthuria had just told him the funniest joke he had ever heard. However, after a moment or so, Arthuria saw this as her chance for escape and struggled beneath him, but dreaded to find that his grip had not weakened much during his laughing stock.

"O-Oh, what a p-poor girl you are indeed," he chuckled, his laughter beginning to calm as he moved his head back to look down at his captive. He smirked widely down at her, his eyes twinkling with something that bordered along the eyes of sadism. "There is no maiden in this tower, woman. Except for you, that is. Tell me, did an old man tell you a pathetically written fairy tale and you took it for fact? How positively hysterical."

Arthuria growled up at him, her teeth clenched in anger.

"You are a dirty liar!" she accused. "I was sent here on a mission to save the maiden held captive in this tower through Camelot's most noble court!"

"Camelot?" The King raised a curious brow. "Far indeed. Then tell me, little lioness, what proof you have of this claim?" He grinned. "I would very much like to see it."

He didn't think she had any proof of this, that much Arthuria was certain of, and it only increased her anger. She was a fully grown woman, nevertheless a King, and he was treating her like a mere child chasing fairy tales! Her aggravated eyes glared up into his amused red.

"There is a scroll in my satchel," she started, spitting out her words as if they were venom meant to poison the man above her. "It was a letter sent from this kingdom to mine, making a plea for a maiden to be saved in this exact location."

The King was clearly caught off guard, obviously expecting the King of Knights to come up with a pathetic excuse as to why she did not have proof. His grin disappeared, and it faded to a neutral look. And just when she had hoped he would let one of her wrists go and give her a chance for escape or to get an attack landed against him, he seemed to be more clever than that as he moved her two wrists together above her head, and held them down with a single hand. She tested his strength underneath his palm, and found that even though she was in a better position to possibly escape, his grip was still strong against her.

The blonde haired man reached over to Arthuria's side, and she shivered when he felt the tips of his fingers slide down her waist. He reached into her bag and started to blindly search for the scroll. However, the first thing he had grabbed was the dagger, and he pulled it out of the satchel. He looked it over with his eyes, before turning his gaze back to Arthuria, giving her a tired look. _"Really?"_ his eyes asked hers, before frowning slightly as he threw the dagger across the room, the metal landing on the smooth sandstone and sliding against empty wine goblets with a clatter. The King went back to his search, and quickly enough he found what he was looking for. He pulled out the wrapped up scroll of parchment, and let it unroll so he could read it in front of him.

His face was expressionless once more as his eyes looked over the letter, though his eyes narrowed.

" _'Dearest King of Camelot, Arthur Pendragon,'_ ," the King started, before looking over at Arthuria. "Oh, so you are not just a lowly woman. You are a lowly King of another country."

"How dare you!-" Arthuria shouted, though his sharp look let her words hanging in her mouth before she could argue further. He looked back to the parchment. He seemed suspicious, and then once he had fully read the entire letter, he turned the parchment around, looking at the directions.

". . .it appears that even though you are insolent and incompetent, you are not a liar, Miss Pendragon," the King said sourly. "However, whomever wrote this letter is one. There are no maidens in this tower."

"What?" Arthuria nearly screamed, her eyes widening. Her journey had been for nought?! "Then why was the letter written in the first place?"

"The hidden ambitions of a mere mongrel are of no interest to me," the golden haired man stated blandly, as if bored, and he turned the parchment back around, looking at the writing again. But this time, his eyes widened slightly, before narrowing in aggravation. Even in the dim lighting, this did not escape Arthuria's notice.

"What is it?" she asked, her eyes narrowing slightly. Perhaps this supposed king had found a mistake? Was this the wrong tower after all?

"I know this handwriting," the King seethed, and the parchment began to crumple in his hand from his tightening fist. Arthuria felt the same kind of pressure from the hand against her wrists, and she winced. "This letter did not happen to come to your court by way of a green furred or feathered beast, now did it?"

Arthuria's brows furrowed in confusion.

"It came to us by a green feathered bird. Something akin to a sparrow-"

The King of Knight was cut off as the King suddenly let go of Arthuria's wrists, sitting up on top of her and straddling her firmly. His head turned to the door that had been left a crack open.

"ENKIDU!" The roar that came from King was loud and lion-like, and his voice echoed loudly throughout the entire room and most definitely beyond it. Arthuria had no doubt that with a palace like this, that sort of yell of fury could be heard across every room and even outside them all.

However, with her wrists freed, Arthuria tried to sit up to get this man off of her, but was met with a hard blow to her chest, his hand pushing her back down into the mattress. The air was forced from her lungs and she struggled against the King's hold as she grabbed onto his hands in an attempt to get him off her, though those struggles lessened at the glare the King sent her.

"Stay there until this is sorted, little knight," The King said in a warning tone, before setting his gaze back to the door.

Throughout the castle, Arthuria felt a rumbling from downstairs that caused her eyes to widen. It was the beast! It must have awoken from the King's yell! She heard the pounding of its feet from below them, as if it were standing up and beginning to walk. But the noises were short lived, and Arthuria knew why: the beast was too large to come up the stairs. There was no way it would be able to reach them.

But then, from outside the door, she could hear the sound of footsteps coming up one of the flights of stairs. The footsteps grew closer and closer to the two Kings before a shadow passed over the sliver of light that came through the door from outside, an the door widened to reveal a figure standing before them.

Arthuria did not know whether or not it was a trick of the bad lighting, but she couldn't tell what gender this person was. They had a feminine face and long green hair that reached down to their behind and would be very fitting for a woman, but the shapeless white tunic and pants that they wore covered any curves a woman might have. But even looking at the way this person held themselves, they looked quite masculine.

Could this be the supposed maiden of the tower? No, that couldn't be right. The naked King who was straddling her hips seemed both impulsive and aggravating, but she doubted he was a liar. His enormous pride and apparent ego would most likely not allow for such a thing.

This person, whom Arthuria could only assume to be named Enkidu, looked sleepy, and was rubbing away the sleep from his eyes with a closed fist.

"Yes, my King? What is it?" Enkidu said before letting out a soft yawn, and opening his eyes. Arthuria could see in the light that they were a light green, full of life despite how tired they looked. However, before the King could even speak, Enkidu's eyes looked over the scene before him, and locked onto Arthuria. His eyes immediately brightened, and he grinned.

"Arthuria!" he said in recognition, and Arthuria's confusion only increased. She would have remembered seeing someone who looked like this, and she was sure she had never met this person before. However, Enkidu seemed to know her well enough to know her true name, not the one her people knew her by.

"How do you-" she started, but was quickly cut off by Enkidu looking over at the King disapprovingly.

"Gilgamesh, is this really the way to treat a guest? She's been on a long journey and needs to rest, not to. . .well, whatever it is you're doing." Enkidu looked over the situation between the two Kings with a bit of bewilderment, but also a small smirk. "I was raised by wolves and even I know that's not how to properly mount a woman, Gilgy."

"Enough!" The King, whose name Arthuria now knew was Gilgamesh, demanded, before lifting up the letter so Enkidu could see it. "Enkidu, what is the meaning of this?!"

"Oh, that?" Enkidu had the audacity to smile shamelessly, and he gave a careless shrugged. "That's just a little invitation I wrote for Arthuria." Enkidu looked to the King of Knights, and blushed a bit. "My apologies for lying to you, but if anything it was just twisting the truth more than lying."

"How so? There is no maiden here!" Arthuria said, and suddenly found herself on Gilgamesh's side of the argument, which was against this person. Enkidu gestured to the King.

"Well he's certainly been acting like one lately," he said, before letting out a soft, dramatic sigh. "He's been refusing to leave this palace for months now. All he does is drink, eat, sleep, and demand me to bring him women to have for a night or two. So needy and so feminine." They scratched their cheek with a delicate nail. "I've been tired of it for a while now. I've tried to get him out so many times but nothing's worked so far. So I thought getting help from someone as strong and beautiful as yourself would be best."

"You insolent beast," Gilgamesh growled, but Enkidu just let out a soft laugh.

"Oh come now, it's not like I chose a commoner to come help you. I've been looking into Arthuria for a while now," he said. "I happened to be flying around Britannia one day and-"

"Pardon?" Arthuria questioned, unsure as to why Gilgamesh wasn't questioning the fact that his friend said he could fly either. The King glanced at her.

"Enkidu is a shape-shifter," he explained sourly. "He was a wild beast before I found him."

"Ahem, if I could continue?" Enkidu asked with a tilt of his head, and succeeded in annoying both Arthuria and Gilgamesh but also making them stop their aside as well. Enkidu seemed satisfied. "As I was saying before I was interrupted, I was flying over Britannia and I remember that I had been looking for another woman to satisfy his Royal Highness before I saw you."

He gestured to Arthuria, before continuing.

"You could try to hide it all you want, and I'm sure you've done a very good job for most people, but it wasn't hard for me to tell you were a woman acting as a King. So, naturally with most beautiful strong women, I got interested. And then, a thought came to me!" Enkidu grinned, his eyes shining happily. "A woman of such intrigue must be capable of sending someone like Gilgy out of a rut like this! So I wrote and gave you that letter, and hoped that you'd come here to get him. And look! You succeeded!"

However, Enkidu's grin faltered a bit when Arthuria tried to sit up again, but Gilgamesh pushed her down once again.

"Almost," he corrected, causing Gilgamesh to growl.

"So you made up a story so this woman-knight would come to find me?" Gilgamesh scowled at his friend. "And what did you think was going to happen?"

"Well, I had hoped that maybe she would drag you out of the tower in your sleep, to be honest. But that obviously isn't the case anymore," Enkidu said, before shrugging again with a smile. "Or you two would make love until dawn. Being a stronger woman than most I'm sure she could keep up with your libido a lot longer than others. And she's a lot more interesting than most of the women I've brought you before."

"That is absolutely NOT AN OPTION!" Arthuria shouted angrily, glaring at the green haired figure. Enkidu sighed, disappointed.

"I guess that isn't the case anymore either. Such a shame," he said, scratching the side of his head. "After all the work I went through too."

Gilgamesh, meanwhile, narrowed his eyes, still glaring at his friend. Arthuria, judging from what she knew so far, thought the King would either banish Enkidu from his room, or start shouting again. She couldn't say she wasn't surprised when he let out a tired sigh, before rolling off of Arthuria, lying down beside her on his back and staring up at the red silk canopy

"You are so tiring, Enkidu," he said, lifting his arms and placing them underneath his head to cradle it."I ask for women to entertain me once every night or so and you bring me some sort of She-King so she can kidnap me from my own home. Honestly, if it had been done by anyone else, they would have been executed by now"

"If this is your home, why aren't there any doors on the bottom floor?" Arthuria questioned as she rubbed her now sore wrists, which caused Gilgamesh to perk up a bit. He looked at her out of the corner of his eyes suspiciously

"What?"

"You don't have any windows or archways on the ground floor."

"Ridiculous," Gilgamesh scoffed, before pausing and glancing back over at Enkidu. His eyes narrowed.

"You hid them for your plot, didn't you?"

Enkidu gave him a shameless smile.

"It wouldn't have been interesting if she came through the front door."

Arthuria frowned, and the room went dead silent. Then, she sat up from her place on the bed, and was thankful that the King lying beside her didn't try to stop her once more.

"You mean to tell me," she started, her voice holding no emotion, but at the same time the air around them became so thick you could cut it with a knife. "That you schemed this entire journey because your King was being too lazy for you to handle?"

She stood up, and Enkidu cringed a bit, before putting on a nervous smile.

"Now, Arthuria. . ."

"You made me, the King of Camelot and Britannia, go on a journey that lasted almost two weeks, through desert sand and underneath a hot, unbearable sun, just so you could have some fun?"

"Violence is not the way a good and morally righteous King would solve a situation like this-"

Arthuria bent down to the floor, grabbing the dagger that Gilgamesh had thrown from her satchel earlier, before continuing to stalk forward.

"And then you made me climb the side of a tower, sneak past a sleeping beast-"

"That was me, actually. To be frank sleeping in that form is quite pleasant and-"

"Climb up several flights of stairs, and get sexually assaulted by a naked and ego-maniacal King who was **supposed** to be a damsel in distress-"

"A-Arthuria please, don't-"

Arthuria looked at Enkidu with eyes like fire, and a large scowl on her face that showed off her clenched teeth. Finally, she blew up.

"JUST SO YOU WOULDN'T HAVE TO DO ANY DIRTY WORK?!"

From Gilgamesh's point of view, he watched as the blonde She-King lunged at his best and only friend, and his friend dodged with a surprised yelp, along with pleas flying from his mouth as if they were spit. His ruby eyes watched her pounce, leap, and lunge at the green-haired man, as though she were fighting her arch nemesis. She was like a lioness, ready to make the kill against the beast that had damaged her pride.

Gilgamesh smiled slightly, his eyes full of interest as he watched the scene play out in front of him.

Perhaps what he thought was a foolish woman chasing fairy tales was really a knight after all. And perhaps he would find great joy in keeping her in this tower with him. He had no need to be rescued. He was fine where he was, enjoying life to the fullest. But he felt that if he let this woman run away after she was done with Enkidu, he would be missing out on something quite entertaining.

So brought along the thought that it was high time that this knight who saved damsels should become the damsel herself.

 **The End**


End file.
